Recipes come in 4 "levels", with high level items requiring more research to learn.
You can learn recipes by salvaging an item in your camp stock (not through the backpack salvage menu).
You will start to master a recipe as you both craft or salvage that specific item (in your camp). Once mastered, you will never fail to create an item as well as having a higher chance of getting better quality items. Note that even when a recipe is mastered, there's still a chance to get poor items, but you will never fail to create the item when mastered.